Jailbreak
by Blues-Sister
Summary: The Blues Brothers have been caught and are in Joliet, but have got out a little early. But now that they're out, they find someone they're not sure they wanted to meet. My debut fanfic. Be nice.
1. Volume up

_(**A/N: **I was appalled at the lack of Blues Brothers stories here and decided the only thing to do would be to write my own, despite my lack of ideas or writing talent. This is set about a year after the first movie, while they're still in jail. I don't own the Blues Brothers or their band, obviously. Rated for language and fight scenes. If you only like high quality literature then please don't read this.)_

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"Well I feel so good, everything is sellin' high  
You'd better take it ease cause the place is on fire  
It's been a hard day and I don't know what to do  
We made it baby and it happened to you"

Elwood's shaded eyes scanned the crowd of dancing men, all dressed identically in the pale blue prison uniform that he himself was wearing under his jacket and tie. Even with the tables removed, the prisoners still filled up most of the mess hall. It wasn't a proper concert, but it was the closest substitute he was going to get for quite some time. Still, it felt good to have Jake by his side as they went into the chorus…

"So glad we made it  
So glad we made it  
You gotta

Gimme some lovin' (Gimme some lovin')  
Gimme some lovin' (Gimme some lovin')  
Gimme some lovin'  
Everyday"

Matt, Steve and Donald joined in on the repeats for the backing.

_'Once' _thought Jake sullenly _'we had female back-up singers.' _Truth was, he was fed up with doing concert after concert, singing to the same people again and again at the insistence of the owners. It was, in their opinion, good for the morale of the men and for keeping up spirits. This wasn't, in Jake's opinion, fitting for a prison.

These guys had, after all, been put away to learn a lesson. Then again, the amount of fights and injuries were fewer during the nights they were performing. Perhaps it was just to give the guys something to do other than hurt each other.

His singing bit was over for a minute or two and he was too tired to keep dancing, so he went and sat down on one of the amps and lit up a cigarette. Once again, he scanned the crowd, searching for one particular face among all the familiar ones.

Tommy, the new kid.

He was the one that was going to give the signal. Jake had no idea how he was going to spot him in amongst the masses, but he knew it was essential to the whole plan that he did. He also knew that he would be in serious trouble if he didn't. Behind the shades, his small, dark eyes examined every sweaty face.

Jake's job was pretty basic. Cause enough of a commotion to get the guards at the gate to turn around for thirty seconds. If he could get them distracted, the Escape Committee (EC) had some sort of escape plan that gave them a straight route out, and a car waiting outside. He supposed they were just going to get in and put as much distance between them and Joliet as they could. That's what he would do if he got out somehow.

They'd been planning this for months. All they needed was a car with a full tank of gas and they'd simply pile in and drive away. They wanted out, like him, like Elwood, like all the rest of the men in Joliet. He had only had a few days outside after the last time he was in the joint and it had reminded him of how good it was. He wanted out. He wanted out bad.

And if he pulled this off right, they might involve him and Elwood in the next one. And he actually would get out. Every time he thought of how long his sentence was, it made his brain hurt. He couldn't wait that long to get out of this shithole. Whatever it took, he'd make the Escape Committee notice him.

His stream of thought was interrupted by a sharp kick in the shin.

"Ow…what the…" he looked up.

It was Lou Marini, still going full blast on his sax, but at the same time jerking his head at the unruly mass in front of him that was the inmates of Joliet. Jake looked. Towards the back, in amongst the huge, muscular convicts one face stood out, the freckles and pinched cheeks of young Tommy. He was signaling much more frantically than was necessary, jumping up and down and waving his arms. _'Stupid new kid,'_ Jake thought_. 'Guards are bound to notice him.' _He tipped his hat to show he'd got the message before the boy did himself an injury, then got off the amp and made his way to the controls of the set of speakers.

Morgan, a member of the EC, had been an electrician of some sort before turning to crime, and had somehow hooked the speakers up to the loudspeaker system that was set up all over the jail. He'd given Jake the job of switching it on. Unfortunately, Jake had never been good with electronics. He had always used to show up purposefully late for a gig so the guys had it all set up before he arrived. He'd been told he should flick a large red switch to complete the connection, but only now did he realize that the entire board was covered in large red switches.

"Shit" he muttered to no one in particular, then picked the largest, reddest switch and flicked that.

The loudspeakers crackled into life.

Matt's guitar solo blared out even louder across the hall.

Perfect.

"All right, boys, we're on," he bellowed to the rest of the hall.

What the armed guards dotted around the hall thought when the band suddenly stopped performing, the dancing mob went silent and they all pulled out earplugs from their pockets and shoved them into their ears was never known, but they soon found out.

Jake, smiling smugly, turned up the volume.

A horrible electric screech filled the air, the kind that is both totally unexpected and incredibly loud. Everyone in the hall yelled and covered their ears.

Jake rammed his earplugs in deeper and reached for the volume control again.

The loudspeakers were usually used when there was a breakout, to warn all the people in the nearby towns that there were dangerous prisoners running rampage. It could, therefore, be heard for miles around when the volume was turned up.

Jake turned the volume up to full.

The first metallic squeal was answered by another much, much louder one that reverberated inside everyone's brains and strained every nearby eardrum to almost bursting point, the loudest thing any of them had ever heard.

Elwood immediately realized that at such close range the earplugs didn't block out as much noise as he'd hoped. In fact, very little. "Oh, fuck" he quietly muttered to himself. At least it was supposed to be a quiet mutter. Unfortunately he was still standing close to the microphone. It picked up a voice, amplified it several million times and people for miles around stopped in the street to hear Elwood's distant obscenity boom out from far, far away.

In the hall, it was pure bedlam. All the prisoners had been told was that they'd be a noise. There was, in fact, more noise than they'd ever heard in their whole lives. Jake, doing his duty well, had grabbed the mike and was yelling everything that came into his head, which included a long stream of swear words, lyrics to blues songs and what he would like to do to various members of staff at the prison if he ever got the chance. This was amplified into a deafening roar that made the words unintelligible, which was probably fortunate for Jake. The sound was overwhelming. Every guard in the place had dropped to his knees and put his hands over his head, meaning there was no control at all. Most of the inmates had run out of the hall, only to find it made no difference, as there were loudspeakers set up in every room.

Jake's could no longer hear the noise he was making, having gone completely deaf; temporarily, he hoped. The madness went on. All they needed was thirty seconds.

Elwood couldn't take this any more. When that second squeal had come he'd sworn loudly and thrown himself flat on the floor, covering his head with his hands, the best protection he could think of. He was still laid out flat and his brain was throbbing worse than it ever had before, worse than anything bought on by drink. Thirty seconds. That was all they'd asked for. That must have gone. They must have escaped. Jake was still yelling into the mike. _'Man, he's desperate to get out' _Elwood thought. _'That must be why he's doing it. He wouldn't do that just as a __favour__ for someone else._

_I've had enough.'_

Without bothering to get up, he crawled across the floor towards the control board and started hitting switches at random; knowing one of them must shut the thing up. If they'd been anything large and heavy near him he'd probably have just started smashing the board up, but there wasn't. He just whacked every switch and button in turn.

The speakers shut down.

The horrible noise stopped. Elwood flopped to the ground. His ears pounded and his brain felt like it had been liquidized. Jake was still yelling into the mike but he could no longer hear him. He struggled to his feet, wondered if he'd gone deaf, and whacked himself in the ear as if trying to empty water from his head. One of the earplugs fell out. Fat lot of good they'd been.

He looked around the hall. Practically everyone had rushed out in an attempt to find silence, leaving just the band, a few guards crouched in the corner and a lot of mess. 'Now that's a diversion' Elwood thought.

Matt, Bones and Murph had thrown themselves to the ground and were still sprawled out. Mr. Fabulous and Blue Lou had run out with the rest. Duck and Steve hadn't opened their eyes and didn't seem to realize it was over. Jake hadn't stopped with the yelling. Elwood breathed an inaudible sigh of relief. Then he glanced around. Where was Willie?

Willie stood up from behind his drum kit. He looked beyond angry; livid, as if he would like to strangle the first person he reached with his bare hands. If looks could kill this one could have been used to great effect by the army. Elwood shrugged. "Weren't my idea," he muttered apologetically. He didn't think he could be heard. He then remembered a conversation some time back, something about him having sensitive ears…Willie started to advance on him slowly, looking like something from a horror movie. Elwood backed off and knocked into Jake, still at the mike. He tugged on his brother's arm.

Jake turned and saw Willie advancing on him with a look that stated clearly: 'When I reach you I'm going to tear your head off and make you eat it.' The two brothers kept backing off, until they reached the edge of the stage and could go no further. Willie stopped about a foot in front of them, looking more threatening than anything they'd been confronted by, and let out a stream of words that made them both glad they couldn't hear a thing.

He was going completely berserk. Willie would take any opportunity to get mad and deafening him was a good enough reason for anyone. They both closed their eyes behind the shades, terrified of their own drummer. He was getting more and more furious by the second. Suddenly, without warning, he raised his fist and punched Elwood square in the face, sending him toppling backwards off the stage, which luckily wasn't very high.

WHAM!

"OW!"

"FUCK!"

He lifted his fist again, this time glaring at Jake.

"SHIT!"

Jake took a step back, which was a dumb thing to do. He tumbled backwards and landed on Elwood, winding them both.

Out of sheer worry that Willie was going to jump down on them as well, Elwood struggled to get up but was completely trapped under his brother, who was way too heavy too lift off. Jake just sat there groaning, making no attempt to get up. Elwood slapped him round the head, knocking his hat askew and bringing him round. Jake dragged himself up and they both fled through the door, Willie in hot pursuit.

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_Well, should I continue or would that just bore you all and waste your precious time?_


	2. Brothers Vs Willie

(**A/N **Sorry this took so long, I didn't expect you guys to want me to continue so I had to think of some plot. I'm really bad with plots; this was the best I could come up with. I apologise in advance, it's divided into two chapters at a really bad point. Thank you for wasting your life reading this.)

Elwood threw himself bodily into the heavy door and it swung open. The brothers skidded through it into the now empty corridor, then simultaneously tried to change direction to lock it behind them again. Jake managed to slam it shut but not before Willie flung his weight against it on the other side. They stopped it before it opened and then both propped themselves up against it to try and close it completely. It was now just a matter of strength, Willie trying to push the door open, the brothers trying to push it closed.

Now Willie was a big guy, but it took a hell of a lot of effort to move a weight as considerable as Jake. The door stayed open a few inches, enough for him to get his foot through, which meant it couldn't close. But the brothers were stopping it opening. Willie tried to worm his way in through the tiny gap, but couldn't fit and ended up half in - half out. Not a comfortable position to push from.

Elwood saw Willie's foot when it came through and tried to stamp on it while pushing against the door with his back, but he wasn't quite flexible enough. He tried turning and pushing with his side but still couldn't reach the foot. No, if he was going to get Willie away from the door even for a second he couldn't do it while he was leant against the door.

"Keep pushing," Elwood muttered to Jake, who didn't really need to be told. He jumped away from the door and saw that Willie had got an arm and a lot of his leg through. Madly, he started kicking at them both, which had no effect except to make Willie swear even louder.

Sweat was pouring down Jake's face. He'd never put this much effort into anything before. He had no idea Willie was so strong. His back was aching with the force of keeping his drummer out, his feet slipped on the floor and he struggled to get his grip back. The door opened another few inches.

The kicking wasn't working. Elwood looked around the corridor for any kind of weapon and spotted a broom leaning against the wall. He grabbed it and started whacking at Willie's arm, and howls echoed from behind the wall. The arm retreated an inch or so but didn't withdraw. This guy wasn't giving up easily.

Jake slipped again. He couldn't keep the door closed on his own.

Elwood adopted another tactic, namely sticking the broom handle through the door and poking at Willie. This was like tickling an angry rhino. Not a good idea. The door opened even more. Elwood could see Willie's dripping, livid face…

Jake crumpled. It was too much of an effort. He only let himself relax for just one second, but it was enough. Willie came charging in with the force of a bull elephant, arms reaching out to throttle the nearest thing. Unfortunately for Elwood, that was him.

He backed against the wall, holding the broom defensively out in front of him. Willie lumbered forward, arms outstretched like a zombie. Jake saw his brother in immediate danger and gave the drummer a kick on the back of shins.

Willie spun round, confused. He wasn't thinking straight. No time to think, he just wasn't to hurt someone and soon. Jake now knew how it felt to be a matador in front of a particularly large bull. And he had no weapon.

He tried to master the innocent look, tilting his head to the side and sticking out his bottom lip. Apparently it made even the most violent person's heart melt.

Willie grabbed Jake round the throat. He'd seen him attempt that look too many times, now it just annoyed him even more.

Jake made a strange burbling noise, which Elwood recognised as the word 'help' said while being unable to breath. Frankly, there wasn't much else it could be in his situation.

He gripped the broom firmly at the end, aimed it carefully and swung with all his might. It walloped Willie in the stomach. He stopped, wheezed, his grip on Jake slackened and he buckled slightly. Elwood took the chance and gave him another sharp blow, this one across the shins. He yelled out and practically fell to the floor.

Jake grabbed him and firmly escorted him towards the door. Willie was dazed and in pain, so put up no fight as he was shoved back into the hall.

Elwood drew the bolt across and locked the door.

The Blues Brothers slumped onto the floor, breathless. Neither of them had known Willie was that strong. If they had, they probably would have given in and let him beat them up.

Elwood was glad they hadn't, he was in enough pain as it was. He tried to concentrate on each injury in turn. He had a splitting headache from the noise and his ears were ringing. The headache would go away but he had a nasty feeling that the ringing wouldn't. His jaw killed from the heavy punch he'd got from Willie. He'd have a bruise now. That wouldn't be attractive.

His back hurt from the fall off the stage. It hadn't been from much of a height but the floor in the hall was hard. And his ribs were battered too, from Jake falling on him. What did that leave?

His legs. Well, they were tired and strained from pushing against the door. Anything else? His feet. He tested them. His right foot seemed to have been trodden on at some point, but his left was okay.

'Oh, that's just great,' he thought to himself. 'The one part of me that isn't hurting is my left foot.'

_(Okay, that was an abrupt ending; I couldn't find a better place to divide up these chapters. Read on if you wish)_


	3. Escape Plans, cars and irritating girls

They sat like this for about a minute, neither saying a word. Finally, Jake stood up and looked through the window. It was still light, being only about 3 in the afternoon. He hated doing gigs after lunch, he was always so full.

He remembered being very surprised when he first came to Joliet that the windows weren't barred and the doors weren't always locked. He'd been very young then. Very naïve. This place was like a second home to him. And God, how he hated it.

_'I suppose it wouldn't be that hard to break out of this place,' _he mused. _'I mean, if you could get past the guards, there's not much else stopping you.' _And they'd just proved that it was possible to distract the guards. It must have been a pushover for the Escape Committee. He scanned his surroundings. Not a guard in sight.

He looked out to what he could see of the outside world, half-expecting to see a car speeding into the distance, crammed with EC members. There wasn't one. The road was empty.

_'That's okay.' _Jake assured himself. _'They've probably already passed into the distance.' _But he was starting to feel a little edgy. The only car in sight was one parked outside the prison gate. Fancy one. With a guy standing outside it.

That was weird. He'd seen that car earlier, parked in the exact same spot and the guy had been standing outside it then. What was he waiting for? How come he hadn't run away from the noise of the speakers?

When he'd seen the car earlier, he'd assumed this was the getaway car. That would make sense. Expensive car, driver waiting, they'd run out, get in and drive off. But if it was, then how come it was still here and not driving away into the distance? They'd escaped, hadn't they?

And then he noticed there was someone else in the yard. A woman. Pretty. Wearing a cleaner's uniform. She was standing quite near him, next to huge laundry basket the size of a skip. Why hadn't she run for cover against the noise? What was going on?

There was something strange about her but Jake couldn't quite put his finger on it. She seemed to be very shifty, eyes darting all over the place and checking her watch. And it seemed a very strange thing to do, to just stand out there with a laundry basket.

And there was something else. Her hair looked a little weird. She was wearing something. She was wearing…earmuffs.

Suddenly, it all came together. That was the escape plan. The old hide in the laundry basket trick. The woman would wheel out a laundry basket crammed with prisoners and because of the distraction no one would stop her. And that was the escape car.

But they were both still here.

The Escape Committee hadn't escaped.

They'd been deafened for nothing.

"Oh shit," Jake muttered. "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh…"

"What?"

Jake spun round to face Elwood, still on the floor. He wasn't sure if he wanted him to know. Elwood had never really been up for causing the distraction and he didn't want his brother to hate him forever by telling him it was all for nothing. Still, Elwood would get it out of him now that he knew something was wrong. Might as well be straight with him.

"I…er…I don't think they got out."

Elwood stared up at him, not saying a word. Then slowly, he got to his feet.

"What?" he said. It was innocent, but at the same time deeply threatening. Jake forced himself to speak.

"They…they didn't escape."

Elwood shoved Jake out of the way to look through the window.

"They were gonna get away in that laundry thing. I don't know what went wrong. I'm so sorry, El."

Elwood stared in amazement. Jake stood to at his side, sensing a fury rising up in his brother that was so unlike him. "What?" Elwood breathed. There was a horrible, horrible anger chashing around inside him looking for something to hit or throttle. Then he opened his mouth and yelled the word again and again, louder than Jake had ever heard him yell before.

"WHAT? WHAT? WHAT?" That was all he could get out. Nothing could sum it all up how infuriated he was that he'd risked a record of good behaviour on this and they hadn't even got out. He was getting more and more worked up.

"Take it easy man," Jake tried to grab Elwood's arm but was shaken off. Elwood screamed and kicked the wall with his foot. His left foot. He collapsed, clutching it as if it had been important to him in some way. Weird.

"Elwood, I…"

Elwood shuffled over to the wall and assumed the position he always took when he was angry as a kid; bunching himself up, hugging his knees and turning his head away. The position that screamed 'I'm not talking to you ever again until you think of a good enough reason that I should.' Jake hadn't seen him sit like that for about fifteen years. It always had the nuns rushing up to him and trying to give him treats and whatnot, but he could stay like that for days and not say a word. Jake remembered that nothing could make him talk.

Jake gave it a go, though.

"Elwood, don't be like that, please. Say something."

Silence.

"Come on, man, it wasn't my fault. You can talk to me. I'm your brother, remember?"

Silence.

Jake sighed and turned back to the window. They'd screwed up all their chances of escape. The guards wouldn't take their eyes off them from now on, not after that incident. They wouldn't be given priveliges anymore, like being able to perform or being allowed to keep their sunglasses and hats. This would probably be the last moment they ever had alone.

So why not go now?

Jake looked around. Not a guard in sight. They could use the EC's escape; get the woman to take them out in the laundry thing and then drive away in the escape car. It was simple. Foolproof. Nothing could go wrong. They could be over the horizon in three minutes.

But would Elwood do that? Elwood wasn't really the impulsive type, not like Jake. Apart from starting big, impromptu car chases he liked to plan everything in advance. Breaking out of jail wasn't something he did on the spur of the moment. But this would almost certainly be their last chance. It was worth a try.

"Uh, El? You know we both want out of here, right?" Jake couldn't bear to look at his brother, so just looked out the window and spoke over his shoulder. "Well, I was thinking, they're probably not going to leave us alone for a while, and the getaway car and the laundry thing are still there. We could use their plan and get out now if you wanna, it'd be easy…Elwood?"

He turned around. Elwood hadn't moved from his position.

"Elwood, say something, God damnit. Just yes or no."

Silence.

"Oh, Elwood, for fuck's sake."

Nothing.

There had to be something that would convince him, but nothing came to mind.

Giving up, Jake looked over at the car, wishing he could materialize inside it.

It was a nice car. Very fancy. Just the kind of thing you want to climb after spending years in jail. One of those flashy, stylish things. It looked rather familiar.

**'CAR OF YOU DREAMS.'**

Jake blinked. Where did that come from? It had just some into his head. Car of your dreams. What was that?

But the more he looked at the car, the more he got an eerie feeling he'd seen it before.

Jake gave his head a slight shake. What was wrong with him? He didn't care about cars. He didn't even notice them. They were just a way of getting from A to B really, really fast. It was Elwood who was obsessed with them. Elwood whose head snapped round whenever one drove by. Elwood who'd lined the room they'd shared when they were teenagers with car posters …

That was it. That was where he recognised it from. It'd been the first thing he'd seen when he woke up every morning in the orphanage, on a massive poster that covered half the wall. That had been the line under it. 'CAR OF YOUR DREAMS.'

Elwood's dream car.

He remembered how Elwood used to rant on about it. Some experimental car that they'd only made a few of, that was perfectly streamlined and incredibly cool, but had been scrapped as it was too dangerous and too expensive to make.

Jake remembered how, in his teens, Elwood would sit on his bed for hours on end, just staring up at that poster. Or how he'd watch his brother saying his prayers and know that he wasn't praying for a good life or for his parents or whatever, he was praying that some day he would be able to drive off in that car.

He glanced over his shoulder at his brother. Elwood really hadn't changed much since he was a teenager. Damnit, he was still wearing the same shades. He hadn't changed at all. Maybe this would convince him.

"Elwood? There's something you might wanna see."

"Nguh," Elwood said, which basically translates as 'No, piss off' said while not saying anything.

"Elwood, please, you gotta see this. It's about cars!"

Elwood looked up. That had got his attention.

"It's about cars, Elwood. You miss cars, don't you?" Jake spoke as if he was coaxing a kitten out from under a sofa. When Elwood had gone into one of these silent tantrums when he was a kid, it had always been Jake who would eventually get him out of it, though always days after they started.

"Come on, Elwood, just stand up and come look out of the window."

Begrudgingly, Elwood obeyed.

"Now look out of the gate. There's a car there. Do you know that car? Do you like it?"

Elwood stared for a second. Then a look spread across his face. The kind of look a person adopts when they realize they're about to fulfill their lifelong dream. Elwood had always obsessed about that car. Years of teenage dreams came flooding back to him. He looked like he was about to start drooling.

"Elwood," Jake said quietly. "If we escape now, that's the car we'll be driving away in."

Elwood snapped. That was all he needed. He shoved Jake out of the way and ran towards the door to the hall, drawing back the bolt and unlocking it.

Jake's triumphant smile faded. "Wait, Elwood, Willie's in…"

Elwood threw the door open. Sure enough, Willie was standing right in front of him, looking like an enraged bull. Jake covered his eyes.

WHAM!

Jake took his hands away, expecting to see his brother bleeding on the floor, possibly dead.

His jaw dropped.

Elwood was running into the hall. Willie was on the ground with a bloody nose. He'd been knocked down. Since when could Elwood do that?

He watched his brother charge up onto stage and start to flick random switches on the controls, possessed by a car-fixated teenage self.

"It's the big red one!" Jake yelled unhelpfully, getting way to caught up in the moment.

Elwood hit the right switch and they were greeted with the now familiar electric squeal. He gritted his teeth and grabbed the mike, hurling himself off the stage and landing smartly on his feet, filled with newfound hope. He ran over to Willie on the floor, who was just starting to stir, grabbed his collar and pulled him up.

"Okay, wise-ass, I'm giving you this mike, you say whatever you want into it and you make it loud," he yelled over the sound of the second squeal, holding the mike away from him as he spoke, making sure none of his words were picked up. Willie nodded without thinking, then Elwood dropped him and the mike next to each other and dashed through the door again after his beloved car.

Jake ran after him, but couldn't help stopping in the doorway to look smugly around the hall. "Never see you again," he bellowed to the space around him and the air he hoped he'd never have to breath again. The mike picked it up and his farewell boomed out all over the prison.

Joliet Jake gave a little wave before sprinting through the door after his brother.


	4. Freedom!

Elwood scanned the courtyard outside and immediately saw the woman Jake had mentioned. She was standing and daydreaming next to an enormous laundry basket on a trolley. She looked thoroughly out of place in a prison, or possibly, the prison looked thoroughly out of place around her.

Elwood bounded towards her, checking over his shoulder to make sure Jake was following. Sure enough, he was a few steps behind and already wheezing with the effort of having to run. Jake had never been one for exercise and usually came up with some excuse to miss any kind of physical activity he was ever called upon to do. Just running this short distance seemed way too much for him.

The loudspeakers crackled into life again and the sound blasted out. Jake and Elwood braked suddenly to secure their hands over their ears against the explosion of noise that erupted around them.

Willie was bellowing into the mike, a torrent of insults mainly regarding Elwood and his mother.

Everyone across the prison groaned and curled up low against this second wave of noise. No one was looking out for two brothers making a bid for freedom.

* * *

The tall girl on the motorbike glanced around. That noise had started again. She'd heard it a few minutes ago and then it had stopped, but now it had started up even louder and she had a feeling it was getting closer.

The volume of it was okay, she liked loud noises. But this wasn't a nice sound; it was a human voice that had been amplified to sound electronic and screechy, like the heavy metal she loathed so much. What on earth was it for though? She couldn't make out the words, which would make it useless if it was announcing that World War III had started or something, so what was it doing? Maybe it was a practical joke.

Whatever it was, she didn't like it. She swung over to the side of the road and put on the brakes, setting one foot on the ground to stop the bike from toppling over. From inside her bag she took out a pair of headphones and a tape player, the expensive kind. She placed the headset over her ears and started the tape. Immediately her favourite song filled her ears and drowned out the horrible amplified sound.

She gave a rare smile and started the bike off again.

* * *

Jake and Elwood broke into a run, their hands clamped against the sides of their faces to block out as much of the noise as they possibly could. They both stopped in front of the basket and the girl in the cleaner's uniform.

She was a young and rather attractive blond, but you could tell just by looking at her face that she clearly had no will of her own; just the kind of girl that rich, self-obsessed criminals liked to have around.

She was leaning on the trolley, looking away from them and seemed quietly oblivious to everything going on around her. Her face was blank and her eyes distant, plainly off in a world of her own. The earmuffs she was wearing were the proper kind that blocked out every little noise, and because of this, she was completely unaware of the fact that Elwood and Jake standing there waiting for her to notice them.

The two brothers stood awkwardly for a second, wondering what to do. This was the kind of uneasy moment where you usually cleared your throat loudly to get someone's attention, but that would of course be useless at this time.

Jake, getting impatient, leant forward and batted her on the arm with the back of his hand before quickly placing it back over his ear. She jumped in surprise and let out a small shriek, before turning the full glare of her lipgloss onto them.

Jake rolled his eyes. He knew her type. And he couldn't stand them.

Her big eyes flitted over the two oddly dressed strangers in front of her.

"You're not Timothy!" she exclaimed.

'_Timothy Hall,'_ thought Jake. _'I should have guessed he was leading this. Trust him to get some ditzy tart to come and fetch him.' _

"No I'm not," Jake answered, yelling over the noise. "We're his associates. He's been temporarily delayed and told us to go along without him. So if you don't mind, we'd like to climb into that basket thing of yours and get the hell out of here!"

There was a pause.

"What?" she said.

She then used big, pantomime gestures to signal that she couldn't hear them.

Jake groaned loudly and looked like he was about to thump this infuriating girl.

Elwood though he'd take control, as he was a lot more patient than his brother. He tore one hand away from his ear and used it to point at Jake and himself, then at the basket and then at the prison gate.

The girl looked blank. He repeated the motion. Nothing. He did it again, and this time she seemed to get the message as she nodded happily and opened the baskets lid.

Jake breathed a sigh of relief and carefully climbed in. He landed with a soft thud onto a small pile of dirty prison uniforms and glanced around. The basket seemed a lot smaller than it had from the outside and smelt musty. Jake wasn't exactly claustrophobic but small spaces had never really been his thing and this basket wasn't exactly roomy. He blocked his ears again and curled himself up as small as he could, which wasn't particularly small.

Elwood vaulted in, landed with plop next to his brother and then closed the lid. It was pitch black. He noticed the lack of space and tried to worm him way round so that he could tuck his long legs to one side, but failed miserably.

'_How on earth did the Escape Committee expect to get all six of them in here?' _he wondered. Then again there was the fact that he was taller and Jake was wider than anyone else in the prison.

The trolley jerked forward and they both wobbled dangerously. Elwood tried to get back into a crouching stance but somehow ended up in a horribly uncomfortable position with his legs half bent, his left hand over his right ear and his right hand on the wall of the basket. Pain shot up his back.

Thanks to the miracle of wheels, the tiny girl in earmuffs managed to easily push the basket containing two grown men. Her heels clopped against the paving as she sauntered along in what she hoped was an innocent fashion. If anyone had been looking it would seem incredibly bizarre to see one young girl walking so casually along when everyone else nearby was bunched up with their eyes closed and fingers in their ears.

However, no one did see her, and she ambled carelessly across the courtyard and towards the gate.

Over the unbearable noise of the speakers, Elwood could just make out the unmistakable metallic grinding of the gate as it opened. His knees were buckling, his ears were throbbing and any moment now he was going to collapse. His face was contorted with pain, his lips mouthing the word 'ow' over and over again.

"The car, think of the car," he muttered to himself. Oh yes, he could picture it now. Just the thought of that car had been enough to keep him alive through his harrowing teenage years. And any second know it was going to be his.

The gates were open. There was nothing between them and the outside world. The basket slid forward a little more and then stopped.

In the hall, Willie dropped the mike and lay on the floor, exhausted.

There was silence once more.

Inside the basket, Elwood collapsed.

Jake pushed him out of the way and opened the lid slightly. The light streamed in and immediately blinded him, despite the sunglasses, and he squinted against it to see what was around him.

The woman was standing just in front of him with an annoying self-satisfied grin on her face and just next to her was the car.

And, whoa, what a car. Even for someone who couldn't care less about them, Jake was impressed. It was streamlined, close to the ground and painted bright scarlet for full 'notice me' effect. It was like no other car Jake had ever seen and looked even more impressive than it had on the poster.

Standing next to it was a guy in his early twenties, who Jake assumed he was their driver. When criminals had just got out of prison they never bothered to drive for themselves.

Carefully, Jake clambered out of the basket and landed next to the girl.

"You can take off the earmuffs," he mouthed to her, miming taking them off and hoping she'd get the idea. She didn't. He couldn't be bothered to carry on with the charades game so he pulled them off her himself, somewhat roughly.

"Any problems?" he asked her once they were off.

"Nope," she said, desperately trying to flatten her hair. "No one saw us."

"No one saw us?"

"No. I opened the gate myself," she declared proudly.

"So...if nobody saw us and you opened the gate yourself...what was the point of having the basket? We could have just walked out."

The girl looked mystified. "I don't know," she said, then broke into a grin. "I really like this uniform though. Don't you think it suits me?"

Jake groaned under his breath and looked round. Elwood was half in-half out of the basket but had frozen. He'd seen the car and had gone into some sort of trance. Any second now he'd probably start drooling.

"Elwood, let's go," Jake said quietly.

Without taking his eyes from the car, Elwood lowered himself to the ground.

Jake strolled over to the driver, who was busy taking off his own earmuffs. He looked Jake up and down.

"You're not Timothy!" he exclaimed.

"No, we've been through this," Jake answered. "We're his associates. He's been delayed and told us to go along without him. So if you don't mind..." he gently pushed the man out of the way and reached for the car door.

"No, wait, wait, wait," the guy stopped Jake's hand. "I'm meant to be driving you."

"Well um...my brother here is quite a driver and he'd rather like to drive the car himself," Jake motioned to Elwood, who nodded earnestly.

"Well...okay...but..." the guy had obviously spent most of his life taking orders and wasn't used to last minute changes. "But...are me and that girl just gonna sit in the back or something, I mean, you can't just leave us here."

"Well, of course we wouldn't leave you here, I see no reason why..." Jake bought his fist round and caught the guy square in the jaw, knocking him to the ground.

The girl gave a high-pitched scream and jumped into the air. Elwood gave her a violent shove and she fell down next to the driver.

"Let's go!" Jake shouted, somewhat pointlessly. Elwood ran round the side and Jake slipped into the passenger seat. The car was fancier than any other one he'd been in, with all the leather seats and futuristic look. He had an uncanny feeling that it wouldn't look so glamorous once Elwood was through with it.

Elwood sprang into the driver seat next to him, looking happier than he'd looked for years. Driving this car was what he'd always dreamed of; from now on he had lived a full life. _'Sad, sad person,' _Jake couldn't help thinking.

Elwood fixed his hands to the steering wheel and gave the engine a self-satisfied rev. The noise was music to his ears feeling the engine fired up beneath the hood of what he supposed was the new Bluesmobile. He slammed down on the accelerator and the car shot off at an incredible speed.

Jake sat back in his leather seat, calmly putting his life into Elwood's hands as per usual. He looked back through the window at Joliet Prison, which was fast disappearing into the distance.

They'd done it. They'd escaped.

It might not last, but who cares? That place was a second home that he was glad to leave, happy never to return. He'd spent some pretty miserable times there and he didn't want them repeated. So this was it.

Goodbye to Joliet. Goodbye to the never-ending performances of Jailhouse Rock and Riot in Cell Block Number Nine. Goodbye to the band, he supposed. He felt a little sad that he was leaving them behind. It would be great to have them all escaping together. Murph, Mr. Fabulous, Duck, Cropper, Willie, all of them. Well, maybe not Willie.

Jake settled back down in his seat and stared out of the windscreen. They were heading to a new future, a new section of their lives.

Him and Elwood, escaped convicts, were going to take this world by storm.


End file.
